PARLIAMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA INAUGURAL SPEECH Dr Jagadish Krishnan, MLA (Member for Riverton) Legislative Assembly Address-in-Reply Thursday, 6 May 2021 Reprinted from Hansard Legislative Assembly Thursday, 6 May 2021 ____________ ADDRESS-IN-REPLY Motion Resumed from 29 April on the following motion moved by Ms L. Dalton — That the following Address-in-Reply to His Excellency’s speech be agreed to — To His Excellency the Honourable Kim Beazley, AC, Governor of the State of Western Australia. May it please Your Excellency — We, the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the State of Western Australia in Parliament assembled, beg to express loyalty to our Most Gracious Sovereign, and to thank Your Excellency for the speech you have been pleased to address to Parliament. INTRODUCTION DR J. KRISHNAN (Riverton) [9.11 am]: Good morning, Madam Speaker. I am so proud to stand before you all as the member for Riverton. Let me first of all acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. I am acutely aware that I am addressing the chair in historically auspicious circumstances. Congratulations on being elected as the first female Speaker of the house, Madam Speaker. I am proud to be serving under you in this house. With your permission, Madam Speaker, may I say a few words in my mother tongue. Hethaiammana Arulnoge, Hiriodayyana Asirvathanoge Jana seve maduthuga sikkitha vaippuga Kodana Kodi Nandri. In my culture, Madam Speaker, we pay respect to our elders, and that is what I was saying in my mother tongue. I come from the state of Tamil Nadu in India. In that respect, I would also like to say a few words in Tamil. Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir. Three thousand years back, a poet, Kaniyan Pungundranar, said, “Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir.” The meaning of that is, “Any place is our place. Any people are our people.” He spoke about unity and diversity 3 000 years ago. COMMUNITY I am really proud to be representing Riverton, which is the most multicultural community in the state. At this juncture, I would like to thank the contribution of the previous member for Riverton, Dr Mike Nahan. In conversations with many people in Riverton, I came to know that he had served the electorate to his fullest ability. Although we do not agree with each other on our political views, one thing that we agree on is making Riverton better. I wish him good luck and I hope he has a safe and happy retirement. I was born in a town called Kotagiri in the Nilgiris District in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It was a huge transition for me to move from India to the UK and then to Western Australia, eventually making WA my home. During the process, I have had the opportunity to connect with various communities. I have always respected my connection with the elderly community. I have been welcomed by the Indian and Chinese communities here in Western Australia. Reprinted from Hansard I have dealt with people, starting from newborns to adolescents to young mothers, and with many sporting communities in the electorate of Riverton, and I am looking forward to working across the board in serving the community in the coming years. EDUCATION Education is close to my heart for many reasons. As a kid, when my dad took me to the doctor, who was the most qualified person in the town, I went into the room and said, “Good morning, doctor. How are you today?” That made my dad so proud. He was going about town saying, “My son can speak English.” Today, I am sure he is more proud that I am addressing the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia. My parents had a big dream of providing me with the best education possible. There were reasons for their aspirations. My mum could not continue her schooling beyond year 2 because she had to care for a cousin of hers so that her aunt could go to work to put food on the table. My father lost his father when he was aged one and a half. He was brought up in his maternal uncle’s house. It was not the same as his own house. At the age of 15, after year 10 he had to give up his education because he felt he was obliged to contribute towards the income of the family. But that did not stop my parents from contributing towards giving me the best education possible in the world. I am thankful to them today. I would like to mention their names. My father’s name is Krishnan Bellie and my mum’s name is Saraswathi Krishnan, and she is mainly known as Pachiammal—my community recognises her as Pachiammal. I can remember the days when my mum was sitting with me, though she had studied only up to year 2, when I was studying late in the evening. I remember the days my mum was repeatedly ironing my school uniform and repeatedly polishing my shoes to make sure that I went to school spick and span. I am very thankful to them for contributing towards my education. I am really proud to say that I am very fortunate to represent Riverton, because the people of Riverton have education in their DNA. I am proud to say that I represent an electorate that has three schools, two public, one private—Willetton Senior High School, Rossmoyne Senior High School and All Saints’ College—that are all topping the tables in the state over and again. People move into the electorate to be able to provide the best education for their kids, like my parents did for me. I am very fortunate and proud to have made a commitment of $12.5 million to Willetton Senior High School and $35 million to Rossmoyne Senior High School and also to primary schools towards STEM education. I know that the people of Riverton are very proud to be providing the best education to their kids. Being a medical educator and Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University and a medical educator at Notre Dame University and the Royal College of General Practitioners, I very often see medical graduates coming through from either Willetton Senior High School or Rossmoyne Senior High School, which makes me even more proud. I look forward to the next four years, with the help of our Minister for Education and Training, Hon Sue Ellery, and under the leadership of our Premier Mark McGowan, delivering on the promises that we made to schools and continuing to fight for the people of Riverton. HEALTH My background is in health. I graduated from JSS Medical College in the city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka, India. I am very proud of that college and its teachers who taught me the basic values of medicine, which were more valuable than the clinical skills that they taught me. I started as a GP in my hometown, serving my community and its families. I had the great opportunity of working in a remote area of India that had basic facilities yet trying to provide the highest quality of care for the patients I cared for. It was a huge transition moving from India to the United Kingdom. Strange things happen in people’s lives. On 7 July 2005 something happened that caused me to wake up at 1.30 in the morning. I have never done this in my life. I started ironing my clothes for the day. I had a shave. Maybe that was the reason I left a little bit early that morning. When I reached Wimbledon train Reprinted from Hansard [2] station, I was told that a bomb had gone off in Central London. I escaped that bombing by a few minutes probably because I left home a little early. In the aftermath of that bombing, I saw an efficient health system that worked effectively for people in need. I was proud to be part of a management team, working as a senior health officer in public health, in the South West London health authority. We were in charge of St George’s Hospital and Mayday Hospital and managing the aftermath of that day. When I moved to Australia I started my career as a GP in Byford. Day and in and day out, my work involves dealing with people’s problems. It is my duty to find out what people’s issues are and to also find solutions to their problems. Now, in my new role, which is a little different, I am sure I will be providing a holistic approach to finding solutions to problems in my electorate. I am proud to say that I have been part of a management team that has been managing two COVID-19 clinics—namely, the High Wycombe Respiratory Clinic and the Alexander Heights Respiratory Clinic—and providing COVID-related services to the people of Western Australia. I am proud to be joining the team that has managed the pandemic in the best way in the world. My sincere thanks go to the Minister for Health, Hon Roger Cook, who is the architect of the management plan of the pandemic. The whole world is looking up to Premier Mark McGowan and at how well the pandemic has been managed in WA. I am thankful to him on behalf of every Western Australian. SMALL BUSINESS I was fortunate to be a small business owner in 2010 and owned my first practice in South Lake.